news

A Sunny Place for Shady People is a music podcast featuring interviews of some of the most interesting up and coming bands — some local and some on tour.

Whether recording in the ASPFSP studios or out on location at shows and festivals, Tommy Dubs, Mike McAfee, Doug Kunnath, and Dylan bring the best in new music by getting away from standard question/answer interviews and give you the opportunity to get to know these talented guests.

Don’t put them in a box, because Bang Pow is sure to break out of it with their own set of rules that lead their unique, upbeat sound forward. The indie-dance-rock group has been creating synth-filled music with soul that welcomes its listeners to groove freely and enjoy the moment. Recently, the energetic band just booked their first festival slot at KAABOO Del Mar after winning the Discovery Tour battle of the bands competition.

Up in Roscoe Village, towards Southport, broods a little hipster mecca known as the Beat Kitchen. It’s here where I’m meeting with the Sound of Urchin. Urchin, who spent a couple years signed to RCA, are sublimely difficult to categorize. Which is exactly how they like it. Tomato, the frontman, who does most, or all, of the talking in our interview, is a unique creature unto himself. His hair is white, long, but bare on the very top of his head. He’s a smaller guy, a full head shorter than me, but his personality carries the room (as anyone who has been to an Urchin show before will tell you). The closest comparison I can offer is a sort of mating between Ween (they have collaborated before) and The Offspring. I guess? Maybe. I don’t know. There’s a reason they left RCA, and you can hear it in their totally unique artistry, which spans anywhere from metal to country to reggae. You can also read it on their tour schedule. They’ve pulled up from Lawrence, Kansas, just a an hour or two ago before their show, after spanning New York to Seattle with a show pretty much every other day. This is how they are able to survive, and it’s a disposition of integrity that, in the Spotify age, is refreshing.

He’s accompanied by Reverend Bill, the guitarist, who I don’t think said one word during our chat. The Reverend keeps to himself mostly, does not drink, but when on stage, absolutely shreds. He’s like a big metal teddy bear.

A self-described 5 song elegy to summer, 15 seconds into “Star Sign” (the first track) and it is fairly clear that this is a translucent reflection on something more than seasonal. Yet Ghost Beach (the Chicago outfit’s first EP), while certainly reflective, is simple, emotionally pithy, and without any fat to trim. Honestly I think my favorite lyrics on the whole EP are the first two: “Never cared about your star sign/until it became an excuse/I never cared about commitment until you cut me loose.” Who hasn’t felt that? If you say “I, me, myself,” I know that you’re a liar and exactly who you’re voting for.